Grab Bag Event - Nightmares/Dreams//Show Me Your Teeth
Four days ago, the Hotel tried to give Sideways everything he could have ever asked for. He'd walked away from it because he knew it wasn't real, even though walking away from the illusion of Demolishor had broken his heart. Or limping, rather - his leg was better, but not fully healed. At least he'd have some interesting scars with a better story than 'Someone batted me into a stone outcropping'. And he still had that shotgun, which he was infinitely thankful for.
Either way, he'd refused a perfect life, so the Hotel decided to go the opposite direction and trapped him in his nightmares.
He wasn't in his body, but watching himself being beaten and tortured was enough for him. The first scenario - that ocean planet, with Swindle and the parasite (Primus, the parasite) - he hadn't been able to even leave the cave he'd been dropped in, huddling in the corner and just listening and hoping the rain would stop please no more water no more water...
Somehow, it got easier after that. He'd clambered up Demolishor's frame in Iraq, watching himself desperately trying to save the mech that had saved him, forearms slick with brilliant blue Energon. He'd sat in a high rise in Shanghai, and felt strangely detached from the view of himself being killed. He had a clear view to Demolishor's last tumble in that city, too, but that put an ache where his Spark would have been, if not for being human. He'd even sat on the table in Soundwave's base in Infinity, knees drawn up around his chest and arms wrapped around his legs and twitching a little. Had he really screamed that much?
As each scenario ended, all of the players dissolved like smoke, leaving him alone in two cities and the desert and that awful planet covered in oceans where the rain never stopped.
And he couldn't wake up. "Frag this hotel straight to the Pit," he muttered each time, uncharacteristic viciousness in his voice.
((OOC: Prefs are here. The first two places come from the latter chapters of this fic, and the fourth comes from this thread. Feel free to enter any of the scenarios at any point - Sideways might not notice you for a bit. Mun would love if you put a note of which one you're entering, just to keep everything straight. Big note if you choose the first one, he might start hitting your pup if they try to touch him; hardcore hydrophobia and extremely bad memories lead to extra-panicky teensy!ex-Decepticons, yo.))
Either way, he'd refused a perfect life, so the Hotel decided to go the opposite direction and trapped him in his nightmares.
He wasn't in his body, but watching himself being beaten and tortured was enough for him. The first scenario - that ocean planet, with Swindle and the parasite (Primus, the parasite) - he hadn't been able to even leave the cave he'd been dropped in, huddling in the corner and just listening and hoping the rain would stop please no more water no more water...
Somehow, it got easier after that. He'd clambered up Demolishor's frame in Iraq, watching himself desperately trying to save the mech that had saved him, forearms slick with brilliant blue Energon. He'd sat in a high rise in Shanghai, and felt strangely detached from the view of himself being killed. He had a clear view to Demolishor's last tumble in that city, too, but that put an ache where his Spark would have been, if not for being human. He'd even sat on the table in Soundwave's base in Infinity, knees drawn up around his chest and arms wrapped around his legs and twitching a little. Had he really screamed that much?
As each scenario ended, all of the players dissolved like smoke, leaving him alone in two cities and the desert and that awful planet covered in oceans where the rain never stopped.
And he couldn't wake up. "Frag this hotel straight to the Pit," he muttered each time, uncharacteristic viciousness in his voice.
((OOC: Prefs are here. The first two places come from the latter chapters of this fic, and the fourth comes from this thread. Feel free to enter any of the scenarios at any point - Sideways might not notice you for a bit. Mun would love if you put a note of which one you're entering, just to keep everything straight. Big note if you choose the first one, he might start hitting your pup if they try to touch him; hardcore hydrophobia and extremely bad memories lead to extra-panicky teensy!ex-Decepticons, yo.))